Friday, May 9, 2008

Five People You Gotta Pay Attention To Today

"If you go down the hall to vent to an associate, that's okay. But if the next step is to go upstairs and vent to someone else, then you're holding onto the incident, and it can become very disruptive." -- Matt Grawitch, St. Louis University professor who studies workplace stress.

"Once a CEO is startled by seeing your cleavage, an image is set in his mind that is not going to disappear." -- Michele Royalty, a recently retired executive

"There are profound differences between acceptable work behavior and acceptable school behavior. You rated your professors 'hot or not' -- but you better not do that with your boss." -- Shanti Atkins, employment attorney

"It was just out of my heart, she (the toddler) was pointing and going 'ah, ah...' I should have gone to my purse and got the change, but it was busy." -- Nicole Lilliman, a restaurant clerk who was fired after giving a 16-cent bite-sized doughnut to an agitated child. She was later given back her job after widespread media attention.

"It's so personal, it's so emotional — I tell my artists all the time that I don't know how they do it, because I couldn't deal with the ongoing rejection that seems inherent to the job." -- Jen Bekman, New York City gallery owner, speaking about the life of an artist

Timothy,Wish I could have spent more time getting to know you at SOBCON...I think you do a really great job and people should visit your blog (www.carpefactum.typepad.com).

Glad you found the quotes useful...I'm having trouble putting thoughts together because I'm just mentally exhausted today. I decided it was time to let someone else's words lead the way.Kind of a nice way to end a busy week.

The woman who was fired for giving a Timbit (a donut hole) to a toddler works for a coffee and donut chain called Tim Hortons - not a grocery store.

We love our Tim Hortons here in Canada.

It certainly shows the power of the media that she was re-hired.

A friend who works for Tim Hortons told me it was company policy that food not be given out free.

There is always the issue of whether the parent consented. The problem with stories like this is you only get one side of the story.

Thats going to be a hard working situation now for the manager who fired her. Imagine the ridicule she will be getting in her hometown. Very unfortunate for everyone. I thought this post gave a well-rounded view of the situation at http://ebrian.blogspot.com/

Patricia,Yes, you're right about it being a coffee and doughnut chain...I will post that correction immediately.You do bring up some important points about it being a difficult situation for everyone.I think what would be a good thing would be for the employer to look at its policies and determine whether managers are trained to use their own discretion in some matters, and whether employees fully understand all the policies.